William Copp (bef. 1589 - 1670)

Born before 9 Nov 1589 in Hatton, Warwickshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Anne (Rogers) Copp — married 24 Nov 1614 in Hatton, Warwickshire, England

Husband of Goodeth (Itchenor) Copp — married 21 Jul 1634 in Hatton, Warwickshire, England

Descendants

Died 27 Feb 1670 after age 80 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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William Copp migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 78) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

William was a son of Thomas Copp and Isabel Gunne, baptised at Hatton, Warwickshire, England, on 9 November 1589.^[1]

He was married to Anne Rogers at Hatton on 24 November 1614.^[2]

Anne (Rogers) Copp died, and on 21 July 1634 William was married at Hatton to Goodeth (Judith) Itchenor.^[3]

Summary of Children

The following children of William Copp and Ann Rogers and their recorded or inferred dates of birth or baptism were:^[1]

1. Mary, baptized 7 July 1616.^[4]
2. Rebecca, baptized 20 December 1618;^[5] died before 1641.
3. John, baptized 26 May 1622.^[6]
4. Joan (a.k.a. Joanna), baptized 13 October 1625.^[7]
5. Ann, born about 1627.
6. Martha, probably the daughter baptized 16 August 1630. ^[8]

At least one other daughter born to this marriage is not found in the register, as Boston records show William with two daughters, Ann and Martha, who would have been born during this marriage. Worthen suggests that the daughter baptized in 1630 is likely to be Martha, who married in 1650. Ann, who married in 1646, probably was born earlier.

William married Judith Itchenor, his second wife, on 21 July 1634 at Hattons, Warwickshire, England.^[9] She was born in 1605 at Hattons, Warwickshire. Her parentage is likewise unknown. Judith died 25 March 1670 in Boston, Massachusetts

The following children of William Copp and wife Goodeth were recorded in Boston:^[10]

1. David, baptized 20 September 1635 at Hatton.^[1]
2. Naomi, born 5 August 1638, baptized 5 July 1640; died in Boston on 8 October 1653.
3. Jonathan, born 23 August 1640.^[11]
4. Rebecca, born 6 May 1641;^[11] apparently died before 31 October 1662, when William Copp made his last Will and did not mention her.
5. Ruth, born 24 November 1643,^[11] baptized 26 November 1643; was living as of 31 October 1662.
6. Lydia, born 23 July 1646; was living as of 31 October 1662.

Immigration

William Copp and his family emigrated to New England some time after David's baptism and before 4 July 1640, when "Willyam Cop, a shoemaker," was admitted as a member of the church in Boston, Massachusetts.^[12] He was admitted a freeman on 2 June 1641.^[13] There is a paucity of early records concerning William Copp. His name does not show up in court records, which suggests that he was a law-abiding citizen who was successful in his profession and had few legal problems.

His farm was on part of Copp's Hill, Boston, and his name is associated with Copp's Hill Cemetery, where many of the early settlers of Boston are buried. He had also a farm at Mount Wollaston (i.e., Braintree).^[13] In his last Will he called himself a cordwainer (i.e., shoemaker).

Death & Estate

William Copp died at Boston before 15 March 1669/70, when his last Will was proved.^[14]

William Copp of Boston, Cordwainer, wrote his will on 31 October 1662, which was proved on 15 March 1669/70. He named his wife Goodeth; daughter Tewxbery; son David Copp; grandchildren William Harvy, Thomas & John Harvey, Mary Harvey; son Jonathan Copp; daughter Ruth; daughter Lydia; grandchildren John & Sarah Attwood; grandchildren Sarah Norden & Mary Harvey, Samuel Norden. Son David Copp to be sole executor. Witnesses were Richard Croade and Jonathan Copp.^[14]

The inventory of his estate was taken on 15 March 1669/70 which included a house, orchard and garden, and 100 acres of land "beyond Braintry." He had a great Bible and several books among his household goods. The inventory was sworn to by his son David Copp.^[14]

Notes

We learn a few facts of William's family in Hatton, Warwickshire from the Will of Anthony Copp, yoeman, of Honeley, Warwicks. Anthony's last Will was dated 16 January 1653 and proved at Westminister on 13 June 1654. Anthony, who married Denny (-), speaks of 'his brother, William Copp, who is in New England'; his brother Walter; his nephews Thomas and Samuel; and of his sisters Hannah who married (-) Edwards, Elizabeth who married Richard Tippin, Mary who married (-) Busbie, a sister who married Richard Heath, and a sister who married John Ward. We find from this Will, that Anthony had some property including a fair amount of land which would indicate that Anthony was of fair means,

Elder David Copp died at Boston, November 1713. Rev Jonathan Copp Graduated at Y.C. 1744. Burial: Copp's Hill Cemetery, Boston, Massachusetts

Disputed Origins

William was a son of Thomas Copp and Isabel Gunne, baptized at Hatton, Warwickshire, on 9 November 1589.^[1]

A number of authors have identified him as the William Cope who on 16 June 1635, at age 26, enrolled as a passenger on the Blessing, bound for Massachusetts, apparently along with 24-year-old Richard Cope, who enrolled that same day.^[15] This identification is contradicted by other information. In The Great Migration, Anderson and his co-authors noted that there is no evidence that William or Richard Cope ever arrived in New England. They further observed that the William Cope who enrolled on the Blessing (who would have been in about 1609) must have been considerably younger than William Copp of Boston, as William Copp of Boston had daughters who were married adults as of the 1640's.^[16] The Will of Anthony Copp (died 1654) of Honiley (about 4 miles from Hatton) in Warwickshire provided a legacy to his brother William "in New England," thus identifying the William Copp, the emigrant who then resided in New England, as a native of Honiley or its vicinity.^[17] The baptism and marriages of William Copp are recorded in the parish register of Hatton, together with baptisms of several children and life events of his brother Anthony, his parents, and other family members. Worthen suggested that if he was the same man who emigrated on the Blessing in 1635, the reported age of 26 could have been intended to be 46, but Worthen also reports that William Copp had a child baptized in Hatton on 20 September 1635,^[18] indicating that he did not emigrate earlier that same year.

Research notes

Anderson's Directory:

William Copp: Hatton, Warwickshire; 1640; Boston [BChR 29; NEHGR 2:78; MBCR 1:379; NYGBR 62:338-70, 64:150-52, 79:1-16; Pillsbury Anc 681-83].

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Worthen, "English Antecedents Of William Copp," page 152.
2. ↑ "England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6MZ3-19V?cc=1462403&wc=XDLB-T38%3A42645501%2C1583874804%2C1583874805 : 21 August 2019), Warwickshire > Hatton > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1539-1707 > image 44 of 51; from parish registers of the Church of England. Database and images, Warwick County Record Office, England.
3. ↑ "England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6MZ3-1XD?cc=1462403&wc=XDLB-T38%3A42645501%2C1583874804%2C1583874805 : 21 August 2019), Warwickshire > Hatton > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1539-1707 > image 49 of 51; from parish registers of the Church of England. Database and images, Warwick County Record Office, England. (Right page top entry.)
4. ↑ "England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6MZ3-Y7V?cc=1462403&wc=XDLB-T38%3A42645501%2C1583874804%2C1583874805 : 21 August 2019), Warwickshire > Hatton > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1539-1707 > image 33 of 51; from parish registers of the Church of England. Database and images, Warwick County Record Office, England.
5. ↑ "England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6MZ3-YVV?cc=1462403&wc=XDLB-T38%3A42645501%2C1583874804%2C1583874805 : 21 August 2019), Warwickshire > Hatton > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1539-1707 > image 34 of 51; from parish registers of the Church of England. Database and images, Warwick County Record Office, England.
6. ↑ "England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6MZ3-YVV?cc=1462403&wc=XDLB-T38%3A42645501%2C1583874804%2C1583874805 : 21 August 2019), Warwickshire > Hatton > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1539-1707 > image 34 of 51; from parish registers of the Church of England. Database and images, Warwick County Record Office, England.
7. ↑ "England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6MZ3-YVV?cc=1462403&wc=XDLB-T38%3A42645501%2C1583874804%2C1583874805 : 21 August 2019), Warwickshire > Hatton > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1539-1707 > image 34 of 51; from parish registers of the Church of England. Database and images, Warwick County Record Office, England.
8. ↑ "England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6MZ3-B6S?cc=1462403&wc=XDLB-T38%3A42645501%2C1583874804%2C1583874805 : 21 August 2019), Warwickshire > Hatton > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1539-1707 > image 35 of 51; from parish registers of the Church of England. Database and images, Warwick County Record Office, England. (FamilySearch indexer identified this record as "Anne Coppe, bp. 16 Apr 1630."
9. ↑ "England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1963," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6MZ3-1XD?cc=1462403&wc=XDLB-T38%3A42645501%2C1583874804%2C1583874805 : 21 August 2019), Warwickshire > Hatton > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1539-1707 > image 49 of 51; from parish registers of the Church of England. Database and images, Warwick County Record Office, England. (Right page top entry.)
10. ↑ Worthen, "Descendants of William Copp of Copp's Hill," page 340.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2} "Records of Boston," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 2 (Jan 1848), page 78.
12. ↑ The Great Migration Newsletter (New England Historic Genealogical Society), Vol. 17 (2008), page 29.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Cutter, William Richard. Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1 14.2} Suffolk County Probate Records, Vol. 7:32-33, William Copp, 1670, Will, probate & inventory, file #527.
15. ↑ This conclusion about his identity was stated, for example, by Savage in the Genealogical Dictionary of New England, (Vol. 1, page 457); William R. Cutter in Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, 1908; and Worthen, in "Descendants of William Copp of Copp's Hill," 1931.
16. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration. Vol. II, page 212.
17. ↑ Worthen, "English Antecedents Of William Copp," page 151, citing New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 143, page 156.
18. ↑ Worthen, "English Antecedents Of William Copp."

See also:

• Anderson, Robert Charles, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration 1634-1635, Vol. II, C-F. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.)
• Drake, Samuel G., History and Antiquities of Boston Page 787
• Holman, Mary Lovering. Ancestry of Charles Stinson Pillsbury and John Sargent Pillsbury / compiled for Helen Pendleton (Winston) Pillsbury. Concord, New Hampshire: Priv. print. at the Rumford press], 1938. Volume 2 at HathiTrust. Pages 673-683.
• The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, "Memorandum of the Copp Family," Volume X, Page 369
• Savage, James. Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers, 1965 Volume 1:456-457.
• Torrey, Clarence A. New England Marriages prior to 1700, 1985: 182 and 350.
• Wheeler, Richard Anson, History of the Town of Stonington, County of New London, Connectictut Page 322.
• Worthen, Samuel Copp. "Descendants of William Copp of Copp's Hill in Authenticated Lines, Through His Older Son, Elder David Copp of the First Church of Boston." The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 62 (1931), no. 4, pages 338-370.
• Worthen, Samuel Copp. "English Antecedents of William Copp of Copp's Hill, Boston." The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 64 (1933), no. 2, pages 150-152.
• Hayden S Cole & Ancestry, Hayden S Cole, 1935: 322-323; {Further details needed}
• Old Families-Salisbury/Amesbury, Massachusetts, D Hoyt, 1897: 118 and 195.
• Grantor/Grantee Deeds: Berkshire County, Massachusetts, LDS MF 872066, 177x/183x: 389; PH217:178.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6624541/william-copp: accessed 20 July 2023), memorial page for William Copp (1589–27 Feb 1670), Find A Grave: Memorial #6624541, citing Copp's Hill Burying Ground, Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by jodygee (contributor 46992069). (No gravestone remains.)
• Cutter, William Richard. Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1908. Vol. 4. Google Books.
• Descendants of William Copp, stanleyhistory.net